Saturday, March 19, 2011

Hi Everybody! I'm Nancy, Mattie's aunt...my mother was the "Odell" part of "Odelma". I am THRILLED to be here! Thank you Mattie for inviting me!!! (I just wish I was really there for the weekend!)

I have a blog that I call "My Legacy" (aka Classes With Nancy)...There are two names because I keep changing my focus! I'm 57 years old but I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! But, no matter what it is called I have spent almost every day of the last two years learning and then showing what I have learned on my blog. I finally gave up trying to have a cool background and header... I was changing every week! So, I have landed on the name "My Legacy" because that is really what it is ... me, trying to leave what I have learned through my many years to my six nieces.

I have done videos from making "air dry clay", something I learned YEARS and YEARS ago

When Mattie first asked me to be a guest I had a little panicky feeling (resulting in the need for a Smoothie.... THEN!)...What in the world to "talk" about? I tend to live one day at a time and usually wake up with the question, "I Wonder If... this or that will work?" (another possible name for the blog!) So, I did what comes naturally and said... "I'll think about that tomorrow!" And guess what! When tomorrow came I got THE idea! YES!

We'll call this... "The Evolution of An Idea" ... because this really is how I get most of my ideas!...and why I think its silly to have a clean house! (that was for Lin, my brother, Mattie's dad)

And it all started with this....

Yup, that's right, I dropped the whole thing on the floor! OH JOY! Yet another mess that needs cleaning up! As I was sweeping and about to dump it in the trash I had the thought... "WAIT, you can use it in a can to hold up pencils!" So I grabbed the ever-ready can and filled it up.

I looked at it and just had a "ho-hum" feeling about it at which point I looked down and saw a jar ....

And EUREKA! My idea was born! I would make a "Hidden Treasure Container!" Cool!

To work!

I've never made one, or seen one made so it took 3 times videoing the steps because I was just "winging it".

Here is what we will be making:

A place to hide your treasures!

(Important note! REMEMBER where you hide it!!! I honestly lost all of my diamond jewelry for TWELVE years by hiding it when we went on vacation! It took a fire gutting my house and the Holy Spirit directing my steps to find it! Talk about a God story! I'll have to write about that on my other blog: Life Lessons)

Anyway, anyway...seeeeee.... FOCUS!

What you will need:

A Jar

Popcorn or Beans or Rice

A container that will fit inside your jar (I used a Dr Pepper can)..it could be a paper/plastic cup, a toilet paper roll, whatever.

Now, go make you some popcorn, grab a Dr Pepper .... sit back and relax ... I'll do the work for you now...

Enjoy the show!

What I did next, after my battery died, was add a few more kernels in the wet glue..so that even if it turns over nothing but the treasure is going to fall out.

OH! And I added the label... I printed mine on 8.5" x 11" label paper, but you can print on regular paper and use your favorite glue to glue it down.

Lessons learned....(and the reason I had to tape 3 times):

The first time I opened a can that I had not washed out as soon as I finished drinking it...you can't tell that until you have cut the can open, so be sure and wash your can out ASAP if you think you may use it. (I have a few more ideas for drink cans coming up so you may want to start your collection now.) Yes, you can wash it after its open but there is a little groove in the bottom that catches all the sticky, that groove is hard to get that clean, especially with the sharp edges of the cut can.

The second time I had to stop because I had not made the can short enough...That's what happens when you don't measure first. You want the can to be just below the neck of the jar.

OK then, I hope you enjoyed watching me learn and an idea evolve. That was fun! Please join me over at my blog and see what is next! I NEVER KNOW! www.nancybabb-classes.blogspot.com

OH! And I have a few things listed on Etsy..(you can get there from the blog) I don't have a whole lot listed now, but if there is ANYTHING you want, ASK, I bet I have at least one I'm willing to sell to you! And if I don't have it, odds are good I can make it :-)

That's it! If you have any question, please feel free to email me at nancybabb@clear.net.